Illinois State Treasurer

While almost all of us are aware of the Purple Heart medal is given to those who are wounded or killed fighting on behalf of the United States of America, there are a few other things about the Purple Heart that you may not be aware of.

Maybe you have unclaimed money that's being held by the Illinois Treasurer's Office and didn't even know it. If that's the case, you also may not have known that up until recently the state didn't have to pay any interest on those funds.

Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs' office holds more than 100 military medals and ribbons that were surrendered as unclaimed property, and there's nothing they'd like better than to reunite the medals with the men and women who were awarded them, or get them to the servicemember's family.

The property returned includes inactive back accounts, unpaid insurance benefits, or the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes.

1st Lt. Walter B. Ingledew Jr. died after being shot down over France 75 years ago. Monday, his family got his long-lost medals back.